Everything You Need to Know About Advertising a Business on the TV

When you say “commercial” or “advertising“, most people immediately think of television. It is as if we have been conditioned to think this way because those are the advertisements that we most commonly run into. This is why it is still so critically important to understand how advertising on television works and how you can get the most out of your advertising dollar.

Ad-Skipping Technology

Just because you place an ad on television does not mean that it is going to be seen. There are a lot of people who use technology to record their favorite television shows to watch later. They do this because they would prefer to watch television on their own schedule. At the same time, they might find pleasure in being able to skip ads. That’s right, those who record the TV shows can decide to skip ads later when they go to watch it. Thus, you are not getting your full value when someone is not watching live.

Make Your Commercial Stand Out Or It Will Be Ignored

Do not assume that just because you have placed an ad that people are going to pay that much attention to it. As a matter of fact, they will probably ignore it in all likelihood if you are not original.

Before the days of smartphones and a million other distractions on the Internet, people actually paid closer attention to the commercials on TV. They felt that they had to because they were already watching the program, so they might as well pay attention to the commercials as well. Besides, unless they brought a book or something with them to read, they didn’t have many options in the first place. These days, you are lucky to get people paying attention unless you really are original.

Avoid Advertising Burnout

The Balance uses terminology to describe what it is like for people who have already seen a lot of advertisements in their life as advertising burnout. Put another way, people who have grown up with television and now the Internet have already witnessed a ton of advertising in their life. It is incredibly easy for them to have a sense of being burned out on all of it.

This once again draws back on the reasons why you need to be so original and creative with your marketing. If you fail to do so, you will leave people wondering why they are bothering to watch your commercials in the first place. In short, they will significantly lose interest in what you have to pitch to them.

Cable Television Is Still Popular

Do not buy into the hype that television is dead. People have been peddling this theory for some time now on the idea that it is going away and the advertising dollars are going to dry up because of the Internet. However, the Internet has been around in a commercial form in some fashion for more than twenty years now. What is it about the Internet that would not have killed off television already if that were going to happen?

In fact, the opposite has happened says the Small Business Bureau. While network viewership has in fact been on the decline, this has been made up in large part by viewership of cable TV. The reality is, Americans still spend more time than ever before watching television. It all comes down to breaking those numbers up into cable viewing versus network viewing.

There are still plenty of reasons to put resources into television advertising as long as you do so thoughtfully.

It’s Smart For Small Business

Small businesses in particular have to think about how to spread their resources. They can definitely do better for themselves when they start to put some of their dollars into television advertising, particularly if that advertising is on a cable network of some kind. The costs associated with those channels is a lot less than the broadcast networks. At the same time, a more targeted audience can be reached on cable. Therefore, it is a good idea to consider a cable advertising campaign if you are a small business or any business with a limited budget.